The present invention relates to an opened network connection control method, an opened network connection control system, and connection control unit, which control connection of terminal units to an opened network on the basis of information on security, and a recording medium storing a computer program which achieves the connection control unit.
The development of networks typified by the Internet permits acquisition of multifarious kinds of information stored on Web servers connected to an opened network, e.g., the Internet, as a plurality of terminal units (e.g., personal computers) connected to a closed network in an organization, such as a company or an association, e.g., a LAN, are connected to the Internet.
When terminal units connected to a closed network are connected to the Internet, a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server provided in the closed network assigns a local IP address (local network address) to each terminal unit. Accordingly, each of the terminal unit can connect to a predetermined Web server via the Internet without identifying a global IP address and acquire various kinds of information.
Meantime, as terminal units connected to a closed network are connected to the Internet, there is a growing risk in the terminal units connected to the closed network, a DHCP server and the like would be damaged by viruses intruding the closed network via the Internet or illegitimate use by a malignant third party. In this respect, companies, associations and the like often set security policies for the use of the Internet, and determine connection conditions, use conditions, etc. based on the security policies as internal rules.
For example, the website of Willy International, Ltd. discloses software for management of Web resources, which performs access control (access permission, access rejection) on accesses to a dispersed environment for each user group, and can secure security at the time of accessing via the Internet for each company portal or each department portal.